Floristic inventory and ecological diversity of algal flora of Lotkuh District Lower Chitral, Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa, Pakistan

Abstract

The study was conducted to explore the algal biodiversity of Lotkoh, District Lower Chitral, a landscape of glaciers, springs, freshwater streams, and ponds. The study concluded that the algal community studied 13 orders, 17 families and 62 species. The current study was conducted to evaluate the algal flora and ecological parameters of various areas of Lotkoh. The study was conducted from March 2020 to October 2020. A total of 62 taxa were discovered from different areas of Lotkoh valley. The total algal flora discovered is distributed over 17 families. Family Zygnemataceae is the leading family with the total contribution of 17% followed by Oedogoniaceae (10%), Oscillatoriaceae (9%) and Scenedesmaceae, Hydrodictyaceae, Chlamydomonadaceae, Cocconeidaceae (7% each), while Cladophoraceae, Vauchariceae 5%, Cocconeidaceae, Cymbellaceae, Gomphonemataceae, Fragilariaceae (1%). The pH for the algal community ranges from 5.7 the lowest to 8.00 the highest. The water analysis for pH suggested that during a year, most of the times, water remains alkaline. Though river Lotkoh is added by different tributaries, but most of the time of the year, their pH remains uniform and does not alter rapidly. The deviation of the pH from 7 has different consequences on the dissociation of solutes, availability of nutrients, and ultimately the growth of the algae. Temperature is one of the crucial factors of algal distribution and community development. The study showed that most of the algae were distributed between temperature 20℃- 30℃. In the study area, the different collection areas have water bodies with different temperatures. The lowest temperature was recorded for the alga Spirogyra dent reticulata which was 15